Dispatcher Susie Powell works in the recently upgraded dispatch room at the Addison Police Station. Addison and Carrollton have approved an interlocal agreement that would consolidate Addison, Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Coppell dispatch service. Farmers Branch and Coppell still must approve the proposal, which would be implemented and operating by early- to mid-2015.

Residents in Carrollton, Addison, Farmers Branch and Coppell may be able to call on the same emergency dispatch service in the future, thanks to an agreement among the cities to help share costs and decrease response times.

The project has been under discussion for more than three years. City councils in Addison and Carrollton have already signed off on the idea, and Farmers Branch and Coppell will decide in January. Under the agreement, residents who need emergency services would be able to receive assistance from any nearby officer or firefighter, rather than wait on help.

The service would be housed at an existing facility in Carrollton and would likely begin by the middle of 2015. The cost would be $7 million.

“We’re just sharing resources on all levels,” said Addison Police Captain Paul Spencer.

Despite the possible connectivity, the legal jurisdictions for the cities would remain.

“Addison police officers will not be writing speeding tickets in Carrollton or vice versa,” said Ashley Mitchell, Carrollton administrative services director. “It’s just a matter of getting somebody on the scene to get it under control the fastest.”

Merging equipment

Discussions about the project began in July 2010, Mitchell said. The city of Carrollton discussed the project with Addison, Farmers Branch and Coppell, as well as other cities, which later opted out of the idea, Mitchell said.

The cities faced several similar dispatch challenges, including staffing, computer aided dispatch (CAD) and the cost of equipment.

“The equipment they need is expensive but, more than that, we’re four cities that touch, and the mutual aid is a big thing for us,” Mitchell said. “We would have to call surrounding cities to get mutual aid in cases of structure fire or something like that and it would take almost six minutes to get another rig rolling to come help us.”

With each city working on different CAD, phone and records management systems, the idea came to combine forces.

“It gives us quicker service to the scene of an accident or an incident by all being under one roof,” Mitchell said.

While each city currently operates its own public-safety answering point or PSAP, Farmers Branch and Addison subscribe to Carrollton’s radio system, Farmers Branch Fire Chief Steve Parker said. But the cities anticipated a need for an upgraded radio program, Mitchell said. The current program uses an analog radio communication system, while the updated radios will be digital.

“The system has reached the end of its operational life and it became apparent that we needed to look at upgrading a new radio system,” Parker said, also citing changes in federal government’s requirements regarding interoperability.

The cities decided to coordinate the timing of the Metrocrest Quad Cities Radio Project and the consolidated dispatch because they were occurring roughly at the same time.. The cities have designed the layout of the dispatch center to prepare where to place the upgraded radio equipment, Mitchell said.

The radio project’s upfront cost about $12 million to $13 million will be split among the participating cities, said Lon Fairless, IT director for the city of Carrollton. Costs include building a technology shelter, electrical lines and radio equipment, he added.

Team-driven project

The consolidated dispatch has yet to be named, Mitchell said, because the cities want to be “more inclusive in case other cities want to come in.”

The total cost for the dispatch facility is $7 million $1.8 million for facility needs such as renovation and furniture and $5.2 million for technology, said Mitchell. But the cities will not foot the cost for the construction of a dispatch center; instead they are looking at CyrusOne in Carrollton to house the operation in a 670,000-square-foot facility, the largest of its kind in the state, according to the company.

“They have the type of facility that we couldn’t build if we wanted to,” Mitchell said. “They’re expensive facilities that are built not only for security, but to withstand disasters and tornadoes.”

Plans have been drawn up for how the rented 12,000-square-foot space will be laid out.

“It’s a phenomenal place for a dispatch center,” said Carrollton City Manager Leonard Martin. “We could not afford to build this.”

If the cities had planned to build their own dispatch center, Mitchell said it was estimated to have cost them $5.4 million.

“And that facility would have been nowhere near the facility that Cyrus One is,” she added.

Of the cities that have approved the agreement, Carrollton will pay for the project from general revenues, Martin said. Eric Cannon, chief financial officer for Addison, said the city sold $5 million in certificates of obligation in 2012 for the radio and dispatch projects. The city will split the funds into $2.5 million for each project.

“The regional dispatch and the radio projects are things that we have been anticipating,” Mitchell said. “We’ve kind of been putting money aside for several years now to pay for both those projects.”

The center will operate with 61 total staff positions a reduction of 10 throughout the four cities, Martin said.

Coppell Police Chief Mac Tristan said the four city managers will act as the executive board and the four police chiefs and fire chiefs will serve as the operational board. And the city managers will hire a director to oversee day-to-day operations, Mitchell said.

Other cities such as Cedar Hill, Desoto and Duncanville in southwest Dallas-Fort Worth have already implemented a consolidated dispatch.

“They’re all over the United States,” Martin said. “We’re not breaking really any new ground other than this eliminating the borders part for this area of the country. This is very unique that we’re able to do that.”

Elizabeth Knighten is the editor for the Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Addison edition of neighborsgo and can be reached at 214-977-2264.

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